Dutch Winter: A Retrospect
When I set out to Amsterdam at the end of September last year, I had the bold plan of powering through winter. The grand idea was that if I managed to get my gym practice, meditation, healthy eating, etc. in place during the winter time, then I’d have no trouble whatsoever keeping it up during spring and summer.
What Happened
While I did in fact get my meditation practice on track, I accomplished practically none of the other items on my list. Part of it was due to external conditions—no gym nearby—and part of it due to my own laziness. But a huge chunk of it was the effects of winter.
Coming from Finland I’m fairly used to temperatures below -20 C and 4 hours of sunlight, but that didn’t really prepare me for the Dutch winter; 5 months of rain, wind, and darkness. Maybe I was spoiled by my year in Malaysia, but I really felt down due to the weather, and not very inspired to to power through anything.
Going with the Seasons
In retrospect, perhaps this was for the better. The intensive inward quest of meditation seemed to be a very natural thing to concentrate on during the winter and now spring is calling me to open up the doors again.
I needed to travel halfway across the world to learn how to use winter as my time to retreat and reflect.
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